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Council creates recovery task force and votes itself a raise

Coun. McGrath listens during a council meeting on Tuesday, June 21, 2016. McGrath is one of three full-time councillors with a $150,000 salary under the new Wood Buffalo Recovery Committee bylaw passed in council in Fort McMurray, Alta.
Cullen Bird/ Fort McMurray Today/ Postmedia Network

The bylaw passed after an amendment to strike any mention of council compensation from the bylaw was narrowly defeated in a 6-5 vote. Now that the bylaw has passed, council has three full-time councillors and a mayor earning $150,000 annually, and seven part-time councillors earning $75,000 annually.

The bylaw establishes a Wood Buffalo Recovery Committee that will oversee all aspects of the post-wildfire recovery period. The task force will include three full-time councillors and six community-at-large advisors in addition to municipal administers.

Coun. Tyran Ault moved to amend the bylaw by striking out any mention of council compensation. The amendment would also defer the question of salary hikes to a separate committee, which would report back to council by July 19, 2016.

There was no debate on the bylaw, as council had already discussed it during last week’s meeting.

McGrath, Germain and Vinni will be the full-time councillors serving on the recovery task force. They will attend committee meetings and oversee all aspects of the recovery effort. The committee will have no decision-making power, and can only forward recommendations to council.

The pay hike is meant to compensate council members for the increased workload and time commitment their jobs demand in post-fire Fort McMurray. The pay hike will last until Dec. 31, 2017, when it can be renewed if necessary.

Blake’s $150,000 salary is still far from the top of Canada’s highest earning mayors list, with the leaders of most major cities earning more.

For councillors on the committee, an annual $150,000 salary means a base salary higher than any other municipal councillor in Canada’s major cities - including Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary - as well as all provincial and territorial capitals.

Annual salaries for Toronto city councillors, for instance, start at $109,652, while Calgary councillors are paid $116,313.

Wood Buffalo is now the only municipality in Canada paying full-time councillors the same salary as its mayor.

The bylaw also contains a provision enabling the three full-time councillors have their $150,000 salaries offset by up to $75,000 by their employers. The municipality would pay the remaining $75,000. McGrath moved this amendment last week with the intention of lessening the financial burden on taxpayers.

Soon after the meeting several councillors and the mayor said they would not be accepting the wage hike.

Blake, Stroud and Ault said after the meeting they would be rejecting their respective salary increases.

In a lengthy Facebook post Tatum explained that she would be accepting the raise, citing the costs of lengthy hours spent doing council work.

"Childcare, lost time in my business, lost opportunities elsewhere do cost me much more than I ever earn," she said. "It does seem obscene on face value, to ask for a raise in these extreme and very hard times, but the justification I do feel is there."

McGrath said that since his employer Aecon was continuing to pay his salary he would not be taking any municipal funds in addition to his pre-fire salary of about $36,000.

"I have a right as an employee to reject any increase," he said. "I will not take an extra dollar to serve our citizens."

Vinni refused to comment when approached after the meeting. Germain said he could not comment that night.